Diciassette: Black Star Pastry

It just so happens that my next cafe entry is about Black Star Pastry. Mind you, this blog entry is aeons old, and I have since been back... a couple of times. Not the most convenient of places to go to, located at Newtown (where a certain someone failed to find the place and decided to have second-rated food elsewhere with lower companions), but I find the pastries so unique and delicious that the trip is always worth it.

Please stay tuned for a special section towards the end of this entry. One thing to note too, if there are lots of grammatical error and spelling mistakes, it's because I'm listening to the Les Mis ost at the same time. Never very good at listening music and doing other things...

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This is their shop front, a small humble cafe that have boulders as tables that are shorter than your knees... but there are more seatings outside. Most people take away though.

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It says "Black" and you need two to make "Black Star". Chocolate eclair! Just look at that thick chocolate ganache.

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Filled with chocolate creme custard. So good! Had to have it right there, couldn't risk bringing too far outside. Chocolate eclairs are no good when they're not cold.

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My Chai Latte in a very cute red mug.

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Interior is decorated with all sorts of funky stickers and posters.

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My Hokkaido cheesecake. It was one of their specials that day, I haven't seen it again ever since. It was very very cheesy, and nothing like the usual baked cheesecake, New York style, nor like the typical soft Japanese souffle cheesecake. It's creamy at the top, but almost hard cheese in the centre with a biscuit base.

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It looked like a pyramid of rock. I chose it for its interesting appearance actually #shallow. Note the interesting knife. When I went again, they didn't provide the fork- just the knife. It was very interesting trying to eat the cake with just a funny looking knife.

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As a cafe, one simply must have coffee with cake.

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And when you're at Black Star Pastry, the main star of all the sweet pastries there is the Watermelon and Strawberry cake. The recipe can be found online easily enough, but making it is another issue altogether.

I went back just recently once with my brother for his birthday to get the same watermelon and strawberry cake for his birthday. Just as good as I remember it to be. Watermelon and strawberry is a really wonderful combination and quite unexpectedly. We always see strawberries in cakes, or apples and peach, but what about watermelon? Undoubtedly it's quite hard to use because it's got so much fluid (soggy cakes is never good) and the flavor can be quite mild.... But because this one soaks the watermelon slice in rosewater for a while before being pat dried and sandwiched in between two thin layers of rose cream, it just... works. Extremely well.

Special entry: Gabe's Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

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So Gabe decided to take on the challenge of making Black Star Pastry's No 1 popular cake. As a guy who "doesn't cook much", this young man faced the task of macerating, baking, whipping and assembling this cake, which is no easy challenge.

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His final product is very impressive. Looking quite the part, the real differences lies in the rose petals and slivered pistachios, or the lack thereof in this case, as well as the grapes, but I can hardly fault him for that. Rose petals aren't very easy to get by, nor are slivered pistachios. Oh wait, what happened to the strawberry glaze too? =P Nonetheless, it was good effort!!

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The proportions look right too, cream vs watermelon vs almond dacquoise is pretty even. Taste? Interestingly enough, I only got the chance to taste this 2 or 3 days after production, which meant it was just a tad soggy, but otherwise it held up really well. I tasted some big pieces of almond, which was surprising. Gabe said he actually hand chopped the almonds to little pieces. Very ambitious.

Overall, this cake was a very good duplicate of the strawberry and watermelon cake at Black Star Pastry. I haven't yet attempted to make it, but I'm definitely not very confident it'd turn out as good as this. Just wish I had a slice as soon as it was ready to be eaten and before it's had a chance to sit too long, because the watermelon does start sweating.

Thanks Gabe for letting me try your creation =)